Among those planning to join the clamor were members of the Chinatown Tenants Union and the Transit Workers Union, the liberal group MoveOn.org, and community organizations like the Working Families Party and United NY.

Organizers have called for students at college campuses across the nation to walk out of class in protest.

urged European partners not to repeat past mistakes of "hollowing out" [war] forces following military campaigns [= aggressions].

"Many might assume that the United States [Superpower] defence [war] budget is so large it can absorb and cover alliance shortcomings - but make no mistake about it, we are facing dramatic cuts with real implications for alliance capability," he said in the speech to the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels.

Moscow has close ties with Assad's government, which has been a client for arms sales, and has a naval maintenance facility on Syria's Mediterranean coast -- a rare outpost abroad for Russia's military.